1999
by Lady Maria
Summary: Faith surprised herself by staying in one place, and by maybe even falling in love with someone. But she wasn't going to play second fiddle to anyone. Crossed with Gilmore Girls.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. I think the show belongs to WB, Sherman-Palladino, and God only knows who else. BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon. 1999 belongs to the Wilkinsons. I own only the plot._

_A/N: Please review, and remember that I'm currently sick and that's why this came out. I also swear that there are better stories in the works._

**You called me by her name again**

**Thinking I was her again**

**When's this ever gonna end, oh**

She was the flighty one, the ex-con. The potentials—the Scoobies still called them that five years after they were all activated—whispered about her exploits when they didn't think she was listening.

She was even pretty sure that Buffy jokingly warned newbies about Faith's wildness. She'd never discouraged it. She'd still gotten as drunk as Slayer endurance would let her, had still slept with multiple men, and never seemed to be afraid to test the limits. Sometimes she surprised the others, and she always laughed when that happened.

However, Faith only surprised herself once. She'd looked up once to find herself pinned underneath some guy who was screaming out the same name, over and over again. Nevertheless, for some odd reason, she ended up with him anyway.

It wasn't like with Robin, when he couldn't handle what she was. It wasn't like the one-night stands that had littered her past for so long. It wasn't even like that one time with Xander, years ago that could have been something more if the time had been right.

No, for her, this relationship with Tristan Dugrey was the best she'd ever been in. He treated her like a princess, could match her sexual appetite, and sometimes Faith even thought she might be in love with him.

Then this would occur. Sometimes it happened during sex; other times he was asleep. This was the first time he'd done it outside of those times and she was shocked at how much it hurt.

"My name is Faith." Her voice was cold, possibly even bitingly so.

He glanced up from the squash he'd been checking. That was one thing in his favor; the boy knew how to cook. "What's that got to do with you passing me the potholders?"

She threw them at her lover. "It happened again."

Tristan closed his eyes. He thought he knew what she was talking about. However, somewhere in the deepest part of his heart, he'd hoped she hadn't noticed. "What did?"

"My name is Faith," she repeated. "It is not, nor will it ever be 'Rory' or 'Mary.'"

**You're living somewhere in the past**

**Missing love that didn't last**

**And what we have is fading fast**

"I don't know who she was," Faith raged. "I don't care. What I do care about is that you've always kept this to less noticeable times. And now you bring her into the one part of our lives she hadn't already infected?"

"Infected?" Tristan screamed back. He'd already set the squash onto the counter. "You say that like it's some sort of disease!"

"It is." She picked up a can of coffee and hurled it at him. He barely managed to duck out of the way. "Whatever you had with this girl—and I think it's only one girl because of the way you said both names and your "bring her" thing—is over with. You need to lose her memory."

"Or what?" How did she dare give him such an order? He'd never said anything about her strange moods and jumpiness.

"Or I'll leave," she spat. "B offered me my old job back in Cleveland or I could go to work with her in London. Red even said I could share her place for a while if I needed."

Tristan couldn't believe it. She'd always been so fiery and yet oddly calm. She'd never acted like this before. He turned away from her abruptly and walked out of the kitchen.

Faith watched him sadly, knowing that there was a very real possibility she'd just been dismissed from his life.

**(Oh...oh/and) this ain't 1999**

**This is here and now**

**You are mine**

**But you're cheatin' on me**

**You're cheatin' on us**

**You're cheatin' yourself**

**Right out of love**

**You're slipping away**

**From me unconsciously**

**And I'm losing you**

**To some old memory**

It was three days later when Faith saw her lover again. By then she'd almost convinced herself to classify him as an ex. For some reason, her heart didn't want to let go of its stubborn hope. It was the type of hope she'd never felt before, that of a woman who knows her love is fading, but can't truly believe it.

He walked into the house, slammed the door, and interrupted her packing. There were a couple of boxes left to pack, but for the most part she was ready to leave. "If I say I'll let her go, will you unpack these boxes?"

She paused. It occurred to her again why she'd so rarely formed a lasting relationship. "Ya know I'm usually not much into dwelling on the past. But I just have to know, who was this girl?"

"Rory was a smart girl, and I was a bad boy." Tristan could see the past clearly for just a moment. "But I loved her."

"And you still do." A woman's heart rarely ever lied. For Faith, this was particularly painful.

"No, I don't." She hoped for just a moment, until she saw the truth in his eyes.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not." He hadn't been so close to pleading since his Chilton years.

She shook her head. She may have been the wild child, the Scooby outcast, and the Slayer who had a rap sheet, but she knew when to cut her losses. "I'll leave an address where you can send everything."

"You can't leave." Tristan knew he sounded panicked, but how could she do this to him?

She just threw most of her clothes into her suitcase. "You did it yourself, Tris. Why can't I leave too?"

"I came back."

Faith tossed a smirk at him. "I won't." She slammed the door of the house so hard that the entire structure shook as she left, knowing that her relationship was over.

**You're haunted by that ghost in you**

**She always gets the most of you**

**Just want to be that close to you**

"B." After all the years, and fights, both had finally achieved a peace. Now they fought like sisters instead of like enemies, and the peace had eventually led to sisterly concern on both sides.

The older slayer let her eyes sweep over her sister. "Get your butt in here."

Both waited until they were inside to hug. Of course, Faith wouldn't have admitted to hugging Buffy in a million years, much less liking it.

"Go to bed Faith."

"I was going to go patrolling."

"Go to bed; there are more than enough of us here to sweep the town."

It was later still when the blonde pulled out her cell phone and called the familiar number.

"Hello?" The voice sounded groggy from crying.

"You're an ass, Dugrey, and I've never met anyone as idiotic as you."

On the other side of the 'pond', in his empty house just outside of New York City, Tristan Dugrey blinked. "Buffy?"

"You should have let that ghost go." Buffy smiled bitterly and hung up. She'd been a ghost in someone's head before, and she'd had one in hers. But eventually she'd realized that she was throwing away a love life by doing that. She'd let Angel go, and Spike. Later, with the Immortal, there wasn't a ghost of a memory to let go of.

She dialed the phone again. "Hey, Dawn? Am I going to be tempted to kill Connor any time soon or will I only need to kill Dugrey?"

**I can't figure out what's wrong**

**I can't change your mind**

**But the only thing I know**

**Is that I'm being left behind**

**I'm being left behind**

He wished he didn't know why she'd left. He'd never known much of Faith's past, but he'd thought he'd known her future. He loved her, damn it. And yet, he couldn't shake the memory of leaving that sweet brunette behind.

He'd never forget that kiss at Madeline's party. Or how she'd almost agreed to go to the PJ Harvey concert with him. She'd been too perfect for him.

Just like Faith. Both were determined: Rory about her education, Faith about living life her way. Both were beautiful. Both were funny although in admittedly different ways. And he loved them both.

That was why Faith had left. Tristan didn't know if she'd loved him too. Rory hadn't. Rory had always seen him as the bad boy, and Faith just saw him as him.

He shook his head. Hand shaking, he called her sister's phone number. He knew she wasn't happy with him. He wasn't happy with himself either.

"Tristan, I feel ass-kicking happy."

"I know I made a mistake."

Buffy raised an eyebrow even though he couldn't see it. It was rare, if not totally improbable, to hear Tristan admit such a thing. "You say that like you ruined her favorite leather jacket."

"She left me behind," he whispered. "And I left behind that ghost."

Buffy bit her lip. "Tell her that."

"I wil—" He trailed off abruptly as a familiar dial tone sounded. "Well, shit. She's really in the mood to hang up on me."

**(Oh...oh/and) this ain't 1999**

**This is here and now**

**You are mine**

**But you're cheatin' on me**

**You're cheatin' on us**

**You're cheatin' yourself**

**Right out of love**

**You're slipping away**

**From me unconsciously**

**And I'm losing you**

**To some old memory**

Faith ended up surprising herself twice. The first time was when she hooked up with a man who she knew was in love with another woman. She'd never taken kindly to playing second fiddle to anyone, much less a memory.

She wasn't surprised when she walked away from him. She wasn't even surprised when, halfway to England, she finally admitted to herself that she loved him.

When he turned up at her sister-Slayer's London flat with a huge sparkling diamond, she found herself surprised. In fact, she made him explain how the hell he figured she'd even think about coming back before she let him propose.

And then she found herself agreeing.

But the second time she surprised herself was when she calmly smiled at Rory Gilmore calmly and sweetly as Faith DuGrey. Then she found herself really reassured when she found out that Rory Gilmore was actually Rory Gilmore-Mariano.

Of course, she was still the Scooby Gang's resident bad girl, married or not. And she'd never admit that she felt relief that she no longer competition for her husband's attention. Because she still figured one had to have a little Faith.

And that went triple for Tristan.

_A/N: Well, please review even if it is with screams and insults. I didn't spend a lot of time on this; I just sat down and wrote. This is what came out, and I've never been able to write Faith._


End file.
